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Topology patterns and supported product features

A topology is the physical layout of the deployment environment. The product features and default usage depends on your choice of topology pattern.

If you are using the Deployment Environment Configuration wizard on the administrative console to create the deployment environment, the availability of topology patterns on which you base your deployment environment varies depending on the following conditions and configuration decisions:

Table 1.shows the relationship between the topology patterns and product features.


Available supplied patterns and their relationship to product features
Topology pattern Number of clusters Description Supported BPM products and features Default status
Single Cluster 1 Messaging, application deployment target, and application support functions are contained in a single cluster. This topology pattern is useful for synchronous messaging, proof of concept, or application testing environments.

A Single Cluster topology pattern is ideal for limited hardware. Because all of the components are installed in the same cluster, fewer physical machines are required.

Supported by the following products, or any combination of these products:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

  • IBM Business Monitor

 
Remote Messaging 2 This topology pattern separates the messaging environment from the application deployment target and the application support functions. Use this topology pattern when message throughput is a critical requirement for your daily operation. This topology pattern is highly recommended for asynchronous messaging and transactional systems.

In a Process Center ND environment, the Remote Messaging topology pattern is often enough to meet processing needs.

Supported by the following single product installations:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

 
Remote Messaging and Remote Support 3 This topology pattern separates messaging, Common Event Infrastructure (CEI), application deployment target, and application support functions into distinct clusters. Most businesses can use this topology pattern to support their deployment environments because it is designed for performance and isolation of transactional processing from messaging and other support functions. Supported by the following single product installations:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for IBM BPM production environments.

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for the following installations:

  • IBM BPM Advanced (including deployment environments)
  • IBM BPM Standard

Remote Messaging, Remote Support, and Web 4 This topology pattern defines one cluster for application deployment, one remote cluster for the messaging infrastructure, one remote cluster for supporting applications, and one remote cluster for web application deployment (Business Process Choreographer Explorer, Business Rules Manager, Business Space, Process Portal, and REST API services). Supported by the following products, or any combination of these products:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

  • IBM Business Monitor

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for an IBM Business Monitor installation.

For the Standard configuration, choose this pattern only if your topology includes IBM Business Monitor.


Available supplied patterns and their relationship to features
Topology pattern Number of clusters Description Supported BPM products and features Default status
Single Cluster 1 The Single Cluster topology pattern provides one cluster for all the functional components. The user applications, messaging infrastructure, CEI, and support applications are all configured in the same cluster. Most businesses can use this topology pattern to support their deployment environments as it has operational advantages such as zWLM-managed servant regions, which make a single-cluster on z/OS known as a polished silver topology. It is the recommended topology on z/OS.

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for IBM BPM production environments.

Supported by the following products, or any combination of these products:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

  • IBM Business Monitor

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for an IBM BPM for z/OS installation (Advanced and Standard configurations)
Remote Messaging 2 The Remote Messaging topology pattern separates the messaging environment from the application deployment target and the application support functions. Use this topology pattern when message throughput is a critical requirement for your daily operation. Supported by the following single product installations:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

 
Remote Messaging and Remote Support 3 The Remote Messaging and Remote Support topology pattern separates messaging, Common Event Infrastructure (CEI), application deployment target and application support functions into distinct clusters. Most businesses can use this topology pattern to support their deployment environments as it is designed for performance and isolation of transactional processing from messaging and other support functions. Supported by the following single product installations:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for the following installations:

  • IBM Process Server on multiplatforms

  • WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus on multiplatforms

  • WebSphere Business Services Fabric

Remote Messaging, Remote Support, and Web 4 This topology pattern defines one cluster for application deployment, one remote cluster for the messaging infrastructure, one remote cluster for supporting applications, and one for web application deployment (Business Process Choreographer Explorer, Business Rules Manager, Business Space, Process Portal, and REST API services). Supported by the following products, or any combination of these products:

  • IBM BPM

    Advanced and Standard configurations

  • IBM Business Monitor

This topology pattern is the default topology pattern for an IBM Business Monitor installation


Configurable components for each configuration

When install the various configurations of IBM BPM, certain components are visible to you during the installation and configuration process. For ND, these components can be in one cluster or in multiple clusters.

Table 3.shows the components for each of the different configurations.

IBM BPM components
Component Advanced WebSphere ESB Standard Express
Process Server X   X X
Process Server messaging engine (service integration bus) X   X X
Performance Data Warehouse X   X X
Performance Data Warehouse messaging engine (service integration bus) X   X X
Common database X X    
Common event infrastructure (CEI) messaging engine (service integration bus) X X    
Service Component Architecture X X    
SCA application messaging engine (service integration bus) X X    
Business Space X X X* X*
Process Portal X   X X
Business Process Choreographer X      
Business Process Choreographer messaging engine (service integration bus) X      
Business Process Choreographer Explorer X      

On IBM BPM Standard and IBM BPM Express the Business Space configuration only supports Process Portal and Business Space spaces that include IBM Business Monitor widgets.

Plan the ND environment


Related concepts:
Considerations for selecting a topology
Topologies of an ND environment